The Godfather: What Do We Owe Family, And What Does It Cost

The party looks like a wedding, but the real ceremony is power being passed in whispers. We sat down with The Godfather—one of us for the first time, the other for the hundredth—and pulled apart how family, ritual, and silence fuse into a blueprint for prestige cinema. From the opening plea in the office to the final closed door, the film treats loyalty like a contract written in shadow.

We explore why the Sicily detour matters more than it seems. Michael’s exile, courtship, and loss don’t slow the plot—they rewrite him. When he returns, the war hero is gone; a strategist stands in his place. That context reframes the restaurant hit, the toll booth execution, and the lie he later tells Kay. We talk through the way Gordon Willis’ “Prince of Darkness” cinematography shapes character, how the sepia palette and deep blacks make the past feel both intimate and mythic, and why the restoration reveals performance details that once lived in darkness.

Behind the scenes, the film reads like a miracle that nearly didn’t happen. Brando was a battle, Pacino was a risk, and the studio pushed to modernize the setting. Coppola insisted on family authenticity, from improvised dinners to Italian wedding rituals, and it shows. We dig into Nino Rota’s iconic theme and the strategic use of silence, the improvisations that birthed “Leave the gun, take the cannoli,” and the practical effects that made Sonny’s death unforgettable. Along the way, we trade favorite scenes, debate the film’s pacing, and make the case for why rewatching unlocks the web of names, debts, and promises that define this world.

If you love film craft, character arcs, and the hidden machinery of classic cinema, press play. Then tell us your most unforgettable scene from The Godfather, subscribe for more deep dives, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.

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Transcript

Setting The Stage: Why The Godfather

Dylan 0:00

Well, I'm leaving. Yeah. Okay.

Joe 0:06

I'll give you notice that you're gonna make me dinner right. Get the hinge movie. This week we're finally sitting down with one of the most important films ever made. And while I have lived with The Godfather for years, Dylan is experiencing it for the first time. Family, power, loyalty, and a movie that defined what prestige cinema looks like.

Dylan 0:55

This week's movie, The Godfather, came out in 1972 and is rated R for strong violence, language, and mature audiences. Mature audiences? Mature themes. Mature themes. Mature themes.

Joe 1:09

Rated R for mature audiences.

Dylan 1:12

I mean, hey, hey, yeah.

Joe 1:13

There are a lot of old people in it. Warning, old people are in this movie. That's true. So it came out in 72. Came out in 72. The book came out in 69. And immediately started development from the get-go. Really? Like from the from the thought of the book. It was like an outline that somebody had already gotten the rights.

Dylan 1:37

Is it so and you were saying that they didn't want like the the film studio was hesitant on doing it. So it's kind of interesting that they were like scooping out the rights for it right away. And then it was like, eh.

Studio Battles And Greenlighting The Film

Joe 1:51

Yeah. There was a whole, you know, there. Um I mentioned in another podcast, but there's a whole uh mini-series on one of the streaming platforms about just the making of this movie. Really. Because there's so much political stuff behind it, yeah. That it almost didn't get made. Um the studios execs on one side just wanted to like sell the studio for the real estate. Like they took over the studio and just kind of wanted to just end it all. And uh, I think it was Robert Evans who was kind of over everything, was just like, I want to make a hit, let me let me do this. And he put together kind of a trailer for all of them to watch of all the movies that were in development. And yeah, this was one of the kind of carrots that kept the studio going.

Dylan 2:45

Interesting. So uh quick plot rundown. Yeah. So the aging head of a crime family prepares to pass control with devastating consequences.

Joe 2:56

Hmm. Now, is that the making of the film or the actual movie? Yeah.

Dylan 3:06

Man. Where where to even start with this movie though? Yeah.

Joe 3:10

Like I believe in America. That's where it started. Started at the very beginning. Yeah.

Dylan 3:22

Yeah, it's kind of interesting that he hosts you know, the Don hosts his his daughter's Was it his daughter's wedding? Yeah, his daughter's wedding. And then is like still like wheeling and dealing.

Joe 3:36

Yeah. Work never stops, right? Right. Yeah, because they say, you know, part way through, like that basically if you ask of a favor of a don on a daughter's wedding, he can't refuse. Like that's tradition. Oh, really? Yeah. And so that's why people are lined up at the door to ask, like, hey, you know. Interesting. People who normally probably wouldn't have come, you know, like Bonacetter and like he he comes and and asks, and so but yeah, this I felt like this movie was kind of hard to keep track of everything.

Dylan 4:16

Yeah. Just with everything going on that's like kept having to ask questions. I was like, now what was going on here? You know, yeah.

Joe 4:25

And after you've seen it like, you know, one point billion times, I don't know how many have seen it, at least once a year. Um, you kind of start to figure out, you know, I mean, because there's so many names. There's there's so many, you know, if I was developing, you know, a brand new comic book movie where I threw in a bunch of characters, I'd be like, okay, what about the Godfather? Yeah. You have a problem with all these characters? What about the Godfather? Yeah.

Dylan 4:58

Because I mean, they just throw names at you like once or twice, and then that's it.

Joe 5:03

Yeah, yeah. And even uh at the end when Michael's uh rattling off a bunch of names, like I'm like, I don't remember that name. Right. Slotchy. Where did they come from? Yeah.

Dylan 5:14

It definitely had slow parts in it.

Wedding Day Traditions And Power

Joe 5:18

Um I know we kind of talked in the moment about all of the when Michael goes to Sicily and like kind of what's all that about, because it doesn't really feel like it drives the plot forward, but uh, you know, it's still there to drive the plot and you know, gives a little backstory and yeah, kind of shows where he learns more of the tradition of everything and so yeah, it's almost like he needed to go there to to kind of see the the kind of upbringing of where his dad came from and the family and yeah, those especially those traditions that are embedded in he's on this side where he's on one side where he's like he knows the traditions but he doesn't know the why. Right. And then he goes back to figure out the why. And then like from him having to leave to then then going back, he's this man. Yeah. Right.

Dylan 6:25

Yeah, it definitely kind of shows more of the transition period for him as as a man or you know, however you want to say it. Yeah. I definitely feel like there were parts of it though that were kind of starting to feel their age. Um just with the the film and stuff. Yeah. Film film grain. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Because we watched it in the remastered version, right? Yeah, HD.

Joe 6:55

Yeah. But not the 4K. Right. But uh it is remastered from the remastered from a 4K print into HD. Okay. So they basically remastered it into 4K, released the Blu-ray, and then when time caught up, released the 4K version. So it's the same. They actually pulled from different sources and stuff and um to remaster it because they couldn't get just one full copy of the original. Oh really? Yeah. They had to kind of put things together and re-time things and recolor things to match. Yeah.

Dylan 7:38

So after, you know, watching it for so many years, billions of times, as you as you said, yeah. To quote, you know, you. Yeah. Um what is what is kind of your uh like a long-term perspective on it?

Too Many Names: Tracking The Families

Joe 7:56

Even knowing, because I've even watched, you know, you can probably tell by this podcast that I just like to watch extras and stuff. Um knowing that Francis Ford Coppola's idea of it was family, it there is some he was the director. The director, yeah. Uming that his his kind of idea was to show a family, not necessarily to show, you know, crime bosses or anything like that. Yeah. Because that had already been done. He wanted to show the family part of it so that you understand the dynamics of all the different people. And so I don't know. I I think it it holds, you know, it holds well. And yeah, you know, there yeah, there's some dated things, but I think some of it is dated because of when it was made, right? You know. Um, and then even knowing that they were making a period film of the 40s and 50s in the 70s, like you still get a lot of that nostalgic feel to it.

Dylan 9:03

Um and then what do you feel like kind of improves with every every we-wats that you do?

Joe 9:11

I think a lot of the exposition and a lot of kind kind of tying characters together and yeah, why this person did that, and oh, like, oh, I didn't realize that they did this, or uh so and so was involved in setting this up, and this is why this is happening. Yeah. Um so it it starts to tie things. I I think, especially with the length, it becomes more you kind of have to watch it like a book. You know, it was made in a time where like this was a best seller, and the company, you know, production company wanted to pump all the you know all they could out of the one book because they didn't know if there was gonna be a second. Right. And even midway through, then they just that's when they decided they were be a second. Yeah. Um, but but even then it's like they want to get as much out of it because I mean, back in the 70s, you only went to the movies to watch it. Right. It was a long kind of time before you even seen it in the theater or seen it at home. Yeah. Um, and like when Godfather was ran on TV, it was two nights, and they they showed, you know, part of it one night and another part the other night. Yeah, you know, and so you had to cut things up. So that's like how you watched stuff back then, you know. Yeah. So I think it it's nice to have home video to even break it up, you know, if you want to. And I think like most like kind of the younger generation is used to that with like stranger things and you know, waiting five years for the fifth season.

Dylan 10:59

Yes, you have um who played the the Don? And it's Marlon Brando.

Joe 11:07

Well, the first Don. The first Don Bito Corleone. Yeah, that's true.

Dylan 11:16

Um so is he was he a big actor at the time, or yeah.

Sicily Arc And Michael’s Transformation

Joe 11:22

I mean Marlon Brando um was a huge 50s actor, and then just was kind of the actor's actor at the time. Yeah. Um and I think it was I'm trying to remember. Um oh, so Orson Wells had lobbied to get the part of Vito Corleone, and um Orson Wells did so many classic movies and he he couldn't get the part. Okay, because it was like there was um one other actor who turned down the part, and then Francis Ford Coppola, the director, just wanted Brando, and that was it. And the classic line was um Brando will never get this picture, um you know, over my dead body kind of thing. Oh, and then that's why the lines ended up in the movie with the with uh Johnny Fontaine and like a lot of that uh dialogue was from the producers who were saying no, no, like oh wow, they're like, Oh yeah, say more. They're like, Well, that's a good one. That was a good one, yeah. Exactly. So it was like they're I mean, it was it was pretty it was pretty much like they didn't want to do movies, but then when they wanted to do movies, they had their choice, you know, they had their ideas of who they wanted the actors to be, right? But the whole point of them hiring uh Francis Ford Coppola was because he was Italian and they wanted that culture and they wanted somebody who knew that culture to bring that to to the you know the film, but they kept pushing you know, Robert Redford as um, so for James Conn as Sonny, uh people wanted Robert Redford. Uh, you know, there were there was like all these different actors that were just like um just not not I couldn't imagine, you know, even some of the great like Bert Reynolds was was uh you know, somebody wanted them for like uh Tom Hagan or something. Really? And yeah, and like Bert Reynolds is like I I always picture him as like with his big mustache and cowboy hat and you know driving his what is his Camaro or whatever, you know. Um and so like I mean there's just all these you know all these things where it's like okay you hire this guy to bring the authenticity to it, but you don't want his authenticity, right?

Dylan 14:01

So um and then a name that I recognize is Al Pacino as uh Michael Corleone, the future.

Joe 14:18

Um yeah, Al Pacino, that's another one that they were just back and forth on, really like yeah. Um it it just uh I think they one of the producers or it's either Robert Evans or Francis For Coppola saw him in a in a play, um, and just really felt like he would be because of the whole transition stuff that happens, and just going from this like kind of young, you know, the the little guy, you know, he's pretty much the the you know the little brother of the whole group.

Dylan 14:54

Right. And he he goes from kind of the the innocent one that doesn't want to be like his family and even says it to K earlier on in the movie, yeah, I'm not like those guys, yeah. And then total total 180, you know, by the end of it.

Joe 15:13

Yeah, it it's yeah, I mean he's I think he says, you know, that's my that's my family kid, that's not me. Right. And she's like pretty confident. I think he's I think he believed it at the time, you know. Yeah, but I think his instincts and seeing what he grew grew up, but I think also the element of him kind of having been a war hero, yeah, he started to think like if this were if I were in war time, what would I do? Right, you know, and so it was like he came up with all these uh like the whole uh scheme to to um shoot the chief, and you know, um it was like he just he sat there, you know, and that's the thing about Al Pacino too in the his acting in it when he's sitting there uh he's sitting there about to shoot them, you can see his eyes moving back and forth and his kind of mouth and just these little like the little like uh facial muscle twit like twitches.

Dylan 16:21

Yeah, and and he just put so much into that, like he, you know, um and that was something that on your commentary that I overheard that um the that that didn't really come through until they did the remaster of it, yeah, because it was just so dark.

Joe 16:42

Right, that they they turned everything up and uh colorized it and everything and and then it just kind of popped. And and yeah, it just that just those subtle things that he does even throughout the film, it it just you see his his transformation from just being this young guy to to being this the Don at the end.

Dylan 17:03

Yeah, you know, right just and so I mean because he definitely ends up more vicious than his father was.

Restoration, Grain, And Visual Aging

Joe 17:11

Oh yeah, yeah. I mean he he he definitely takes I mean anything he did at the end of the movie uh Don Corleone was against, yeah, and and he didn't I think the part of it too was that Sonny had he acted something out like that, would have been more careless, yeah, and that's what killed him, you know, because he was just emotionally driven, right? Whereas uh Michael had more of a smart mind to it and was like, no, we gotta wait for this to happen, we gotta be patient, and once this happens, then this is gonna happen and that's gonna happen and it's all gonna you know the whole string of events, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, and and again, just bringing it back to El Pacino, just his acting, his delivering is just amazing. And you know, James Kahn, I mean, he he spent some time with some made guys to to kind of figure out his character, and yeah, you know, it was like it's interesting how many connections, quote unquote, there were throughout this movie, yeah. Um, that people spent with, you know, made guys or you know, all that stuff, and um there were threats for made guys, there were you know, to the to the author Marapuzo, um, I guess he he owed the mob like ten thousand dollars at the beginning. So like man, it was just there are so many things like that. Um that just it's just crazy that yeah, yeah. And then you know, you watch the film and you're like, wow, this is almost real life. It's yeah. Um then uh Robert Duvall, Tom Hagen, um he he's so great because his character um is more expounded on in in the sequels and stuff, but oh yeah, yeah, just kind of showing um how he was adopted and things like that. And yeah, and uh but it's cool that like they you know adopted a kid from the streets and made him one of the family, you know, because it's not like a thing that happens. Um yeah, Diane, Diane Keaton um in this, like she's pretty she's pretty good, you know, in this too. It's like she plays this innocent, you know, um kind of girlfriend for a while.

Dylan 19:41

Yeah, well, because Kay I don't want to steal I want to steal it from you, but yeah, go for it. She kept how she kept saying, like, well, um presidents and senators don't have people killed, right? Is that the line? Yeah. Very naive.

Coppola’s Family-First Vision

Joe 19:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like he's like Like uh, you know, he yeah, he explains like it's just like being a senator or president and and all that and being in leadership. And she's like, Well, senators and presidents don't have people killed. Right. He's like, Well, who's being naive, K? Yeah. And that's just it's such a greatly written, great written part because it's just it's that mic drop of like, come on. Right. Really? So yeah, Fredo, I always feel for him because you know, he's just he's he's like an older brother that didn't get that kind of got passed over and you know, gets pushed around, and you know even at the end he finds out that he was getting beat up by Mo Green. Oh, really? Yeah, so um France Ford Coppola wanted Nita Nina Nino Rota to to do the main themes and to do the score. Um his biggest thing was he wanted something that sounded s sort of Arabic that had these kind of tones to it. Oh yeah, yeah, and so uh Nino came up with quite a few pieces that he was kind of like uh it's close, but it's not and um he ended up going back to a a piece that he did for another movie, um, and it was sort of more in the kind of like waltz, a fast waltz, but kind of polka-ish. Yeah, and so he took that and made it slower and kind of did a like remix of his own score, yeah, and uh and then used that for the theme. And uh so like he adapted it from that, and then um when Oscar time came up, um it was ineligible for for an award because he had used it, uh he used the main theme in a piece that he had written that was a full piece. Uh huh. And so he took the main theme and then expounded on it for for Godfather, but because he had done that, it wasn't considered an original piece anymore.

Dylan 22:14

And it was like okay, yeah, yeah.

Joe 22:17

I mean, it's almost like getting dinged for stealing from yourself, you know? Right.

Dylan 22:22

Like it's yeah, yeah, that's interesting. Because you're like, I I wrote that, like, shouldn't I get the option to write? Yeah. But yeah, I I did enjoy how the music had kind of the Italian folk kind of influence with it. Yeah. Um there wasn't a lot of music throughout the whole movie, but yeah, it was very deliberate when it was used. Right. So yeah, it was good. Yeah, and they definitely used kind of the the silence in between, you know, as uh, you know, uh influential. Yeah, if you if you want to say that. It's like its own character in the movie. Right.

Rewatches Reveal The Web

Joe 23:13

Yeah. Yeah, I I think um one of the tracks that's sort of as a mush musician sort of uh grates on your ears, but at the same time is kind of cool as the old timey when they're doing the you know that scene where they're they're doing the montage and you know they're showing all these people dying and stuff and they're they have this like untuned piano kind of playing in the background. Yeah. So it you get this kind of old timey feel to it, you know. And I'm like, with all their mob money, they couldn't get the piano tuned. Right. So yeah, Coppola Coppola has a lot of we're gonna do some other couple of movies. So uh when he gets the actors together, and even in auditions, he'll have them do sort of what kind of what Rob Reiner did with Stand By Me is just do these improv sessions. And so one of one of the biggest, like longest sessions that he did with the the actors was he had them basically have dinner together and hang out as a family, and so yeah, as a family, uh and so everybody would be in the room acting as Sonny or acting as Michael or and they would have to come up with lines that you know their character would say or act like, and so they would get to know the character so well through that, and then get to know the other actors' characters through that, and so he would just do these long dinner sessions where they would just eat and talk as if you know, hey Michael, how's the war going or whatever, you know? So um they would just improv this stuff so that once the cameras were rolling, that if they were improving, it was still within the you know, they weren't calling each other by each other's names or yeah, you know, it was more authentic that way. Right.

Dylan 25:25

Yeah, they need to do that because they didn't do that for the audience. Right, right.

Joe 25:30

Yeah. Yeah. But uh so I mean again with this his authenticity and him knowing what what a Italian wedding would look like, even to the point of the the little scene where they're throwing sandwiches at each other. Yeah, like he said that would happen at weddings in in his family. Like they would all, you know, they'd be like, hey, give me a capacola, you know, and like the the wine they're carrying around, and you know, I love that part where he's like, hey, more wine, more wine, you know, he just brings them this huge pitcher of wine, drinks it right out of the pitcher, yeah. Yeah, exactly. It's like wow. Could only imagine.

Joe?! 26:19

The five family olive oil, imported, respected, like an offer you can't refuse.

Joe 26:26

In this business, there are rules, tradition, loyalty, respect, and in the kitchen, there are no shortcuts. The five family olive oil is cold-pressed in the old country, crafted for slow Sundays, quiet dinners, and meals that bring everyone back to the table. Smooth, bold, balanced, an oil that knows when to stand up, and when to let the dish speak for itself. You don't argue with tradition, you honor it. The five family olive, because some things are earned, and flavor is one of them.

Joe?! 27:04

But wherever respectable olive oils are sold.

Joe 27:08

Yeah, one of the uh cinematographers was called the Prince of Darkness because he used shadows and and darkness, you know. Oh, yeah. And so, like, even in the the print, um, when they were talking about restoring the movie, like the blacks were black. You couldn't get any more out of it. You know, it was like that's how he lit it. Yeah, and uh, I guess one producer was so mad that they forced him to use more lighting in certain things. Really?

Dylan 27:40

Yeah, because I could not picture it being any darker.

Joe 27:44

Yeah, yeah. It's just yeah, and especially the first scene, you know, that that whole scene when they're in the office and uh yeah, because I mean it's pretty much the guy in like a black background, right?

Dylan 27:58

Yeah. I was thinking about all of like the the car scenes, you know, where they're driving at night. Oh, yeah. Right, not much else. Yeah. Yeah.

Casting Battles: Brando And Pacino

Joe 28:15

And yeah, I feel like even those scenes, a lot of those scenes were felt really real. You know, like you didn't feel like there was a you know how they did projection uh back then, like they would just put you in a car and project the scene behind you, right? Kind of rocking, you know. Like you didn't feel that way. You felt like it was, you know, you're really on the you know, the street, and when they turn that corner, they're on the bridge, it's like right now. Everybody's falling out of the car. Yeah. And I can imagine trying to get all those authentic cars too. Oh yeah.

Dylan 28:52

Yeah. Well, and that's something that they did a really good job of was kind of the authenticity of everything and the just the costume and the production design just really kept it all like super cohesive.

Joe 29:06

Yeah. The period. Right. It just yeah, and you know, they they wanted to save money, the studios wanted to save money by not doing it in the period, but you know, he pushed for that. It was there was a lot of pushing back and forth. And um it seems like it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And uh, and I just couldn't imagine it being a 70s movie, and you know, how would you how do you you know, do you put you know, Michael in Vietnam? Like, you know, like what do you do with that? Because he was a war hero, so right now, and then you yeah, it's just I don't know, I feel like there's well, one of the main things that he did, I mean, and kind of goes back to his world building, is he initially took his uh paperback novel, yeah, um, and a folder, kind of one of those three ring binders, put paper in it, cut out the size of a page on all the pieces of paper for the whole book, and then uh taped taped a page to each side so that when he turned the next page he could see the other side of the page. Yeah, and so then with these big margins, he used that as a working script. So he just took the novel and wrote notes on the side and used that as like, you know, uh when he would refer to things uh or he would reference things that needed to happen or what it needed to look like or what so and so needed to say, he already had it written and they're like, Okay, we're gonna go in this direction. Yeah. One of the one of his notes was uh not to have Italians tuck a like this. Yeah, yeah. Because I guess up until then um all the movies, the Italians would talk like that. And really, yeah, from like the 20s on, everybody tuck a like this, and like you know, and the funny thing is um uh one of the guys when he's teaching uh Michael how to how to uh how to cook, yeah, um the two things in it is he's like he kind of mocks that that you know um accent. Yeah. And he goes, You need to tell her you love her, you know, that kind of and then he goes back into his regular speaking voice. Uh, but then he teaches um how to uh fry the sausage first and then put in the tomatoes and the sugar, and then you know, and I guess on the on the script it said um uh he browns the sausage, and Mario Puzzle said, No, Italians don't brown, they fry the sausage. So they changed in the script to that. So there's just like a lot of little subtle things that he when he read the book, he just kept writing notes and saying this needs to happen and this needs to look this way. And right.

Dylan 32:08

So I know at one point uh we were kind of talking about how the Sicilian wedding arc when he's in Sicily kind of doesn't make a whole lot of sense and doesn't really feel like it drives a lot of kind of the plot forward. Yeah. And um so looking looking on it kind of later on and going back over it, uh I know we were talking about how it kind of completes Michael's transformation, you know, how when he started off, he insists that he's not like the family, and then um by marrying the uh I don't remember her name. Apollonia. Apollonia, yeah. But so by marrying her, you know, while hiding as a fugitive in Sicily, that he's you know no longer adjacent to the mafia world like he was, he really kind of steps into it and is fully inside you know that life, then whether he wants to be or not, um, and how it kind of harkens back to the old world traditions that his dad, you know, lived by and stuff, and uh you know, the the setting and like the whole Sicilian courtship that he goes through um kind of shows the the pre-American values that his dad had, you know, where the the family ties is just everything over there.

Performance Details: Eyes, Silence, Control

Joe 33:46

Yeah, that was actually cool because um in that scene where where he he sees her for the first time and the thunderbolts hit them, um you know, initially the guys are kind of like kind of you know describing her like you know, oh yeah, you know, and then once the dad realizes that who they're talking about who they're talking about, he's like, you know, they're like, Do you know anybody? And he goes, No, you know, right automatically, and then Michael's like calms it all down and like all right, this is what this is what's gonna happen. Yeah, either, you know, he basically makes him an offer he can't refuse. Yeah. Go ahead.

Dylan 34:33

Um, but then like also like just the whole thing contrasts with Michael's earlier life with Kay back in America, where um, you know, he just didn't want to be a part of stuff, and so it kind of symbolizes him kind of stepping back into the roots of the Corleone family identity there. It kind of shows how how Michael was trying and also failing to kind of reclaim the innocence of his past, um, where Apollon what was her name? Apollonia. Apollonia. Uh I'll get that by the end of it, maybe. Um Apollonia kind of represents something a lot more pure and that innocence right from kind of his family's crimes and um the how quick and like almost idyllic the romance is kind of suggests that Michael wants a more of a reset and a simple life away from the violence of the family, and um the kind of goes to show the the whole tragedy of that violence follows him anywhere he goes, no matter how far he runs. Um and it following that it it reinforces the idea that there is no escape from that.

Joe 36:06

Yeah.

Dylan 36:06

So Apollonia, uh her death is crucial in it that the assassination that was meant for Michael uh kill kind of kills the one thing in his life that represented the peace and the normalcy of it and um kind of sends a really blunt message of Michael chose revenge, and so there was no safe version of his life that was left for him.

Joe 36:36

Yeah.

Dylan 36:37

So kind of wrapping it all up, it it goes to kind of explain why Michael or who he became later on. So like after Sicily, Michael shows back up in America as a much colder and more controlled and emotionally uh sealed off um showing how you know Apollonia's death kind of strips away all the vulner vulnerability and that um the Michael later who then can lie to Kay and take over the family without hesitation, like without all of the Sicily bit, he would you know, he would not have been able to do that because he was just a different person.

Score Origins And Oscars Snag

Joe 37:35

Yeah. Yeah. Definitely when you just feel that when I mean he's even dressed completely different from when he started, you know, and when they show him to go see Kay, which is kind of the first time you see him, right, and he just has his full-on, you know, like just dressed to the nines and and you know, his hat, everything, guards following, and he just you know I know some traditions basically say if you're gonna be my understanding is probably that if you had to be a Don that you had to have a family, they had a wife, and so he was just basically looking to get a wife, and and Kay was the kind of the easy right settle back into it, yeah, settle back into to just that normalcy that he knew as opposed to what he thought what life was gonna be, you know, and then basically just get revenge for all of it. Yeah, you know, because like I think revenge he does. Yeah, because I think that when it comes down to it with him losing Apollonia and his brother, he just that's why he's like, all Beth are gonna be settled today, you know. It's like everything's gonna be settled, and right, and with that, like um the people who ordered her murder get it, you know. And so it's just yeah.

Dylan 39:14

Um so out of all that, do you have a favorite scene that you can pick out?

Joe 39:22

Man there's a lot that come up, and I think some of them are like who are you? What's your name? Enzo, the baker. Enzo, you know, right. He's like, Well, Enzo, you need to leave. And he's like, No, I want to help you for your father, for your father, right? You know, dude, Enzo steps it up. Yeah. Like, like, I mean, and he definitely did not know what he was gonna hit himself into. Yeah, and the actor who did that, like, he just he Just like just, I mean, he probably got typecasted because he just did such a great job. Like, because after the car goes by and he's trying to get that shake and shake. Yeah. And Michael's comforting him was like, it's okay, you did great, you know, all that stuff. Like, I love that because it was like it was one of those things where you knew that the godfather would call in favors, right? But it was like rare, and it was like, you know, it wasn't like because he he even would say, you know, uh, one day I'll call you, and this day may never come. Right. You know, but then like Enzo shows up just to help out, or just to just to see him, to pay his respects, right? And then all of a sudden, boom, he's on you know, he's on guard duty.

Dylan 40:46

Right.

Joe 40:47

So just just that, like put your put your hand in your pocket, look like you have a gun. Yeah, look like you have a gun. That one, um I I think even the setup to the line of take the gun and leave the cannolis, you know, because the way they set it up too is like, you know, it's just another day. And uh I think it's was it Polly or something like that who who you know they're basically gonna take him out.

Dylan 41:15

Leave the leave the gun, take the cannolis.

Joe 41:17

Yeah. The the wife talks to him about, oh, can you pick up some cannolis on the way back? And so they kind of throw in some things that later on it pays it off, and it's just a subtle kind of you know, everyday like you know.

Dylan 41:31

Well, and that line really goes to show like how much of a everyday thing it is for these guys, yeah. And oh, just you know, leave the gun, take the gannolies. Right. You're like, you just killed a man while he was out taking a leak, right?

Sound, Silence, And That Untuned Piano

Joe 41:47

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And like, um, right, the guy just goes like, you know, I'm gonna go take a leak, you take care of this guy, and then you're right. And uh yeah, it was just an error, it was like that's that was just a regular day for them. Yeah, and and then but even that line was an improv from the actor. That was just yeah, it was just an improv. And that that's kind of what I like about a lot of this. Um not necessarily a favorite so much as the scene because it's pretty pretty um emotional in some ways, but uh the how the scene with um with Carlo and Connie came about was that Paramount um had seen parts of the film and were kind of uh on edge. They were on edge most of the time because they didn't want Francis Ford Coppola in the first place, but then when they got him, it was like always pushing, pushing, pushing. Um, and they kept threatening to to get a violence coach to make the film more exciting, and so and so uh Coppola worked with um uh his sister um who plays Connie, yeah, um Talia Shire, who later on is in Rocky. Amazing, um but worked with her to to like come up with a scene, and then um with the other actor who plays Carlo, they basically um talked about it, talked about what they were gonna do, but that was all like improv. It was that whole scene was improv. And so it's like you can see there's little to no cuts in that whole scene because it's just you're just following like you're you're in the room, and so they're just like running around, like she's throwing plates and right, she's smashing, smashing the dishes. Yeah, he just pulls his belt off and starts eating.

Dylan 43:44

I mean, to be fair, if you were to ask me to make you dinner, and they'd be like, Well, I'm leaving. Yeah, I I probably would be smashing some dishes too. Okay.

Improv Dinners And Authentic Rituals

Joe 43:55

I'll give you notice that you're gonna make me dinner, right? Yeah, get the hint, yeah. So yeah, it was just an improv. And um, yeah, I mean it it it's it's as far as acting, it's a great scene, you know, like just knowing like they were just you know doing that. Yeah. Um the other one is is of course when when Sonny comes after Carlo and they're in the street, and um uh James Conn worked with a stunt guy to basically choreograph that whole thing in the street, and so they just had random extras in the background, so it made it look like just a New York scene. Yeah. And then they just just from the point of him getting out of the car and throwing that little, you know, bat at him and just getting, you know, he just went wild and it was with the stunt man, so it was like the stunt guy was ready for anything, and you know, so James Conn just grabs the top of a trash can lid, and you can see um a cool shot. It's so fast that it looks like it hits him, but he more he throws the trash can kind of on the the guardrail, like in front of him, and it bounces off of him, but it looks like it's bouncing off of him, not the guardrail. But it's like there's just so many things like that, and then I guess like um I th I had heard that that that it was possible that either the stunt guy or the actor who was in the scene with James Conn actually got uh uh uh rib broken. Oh yeah, just went crazy, yeah. But yeah, that's wild. Just things like that. Um the horse head scene, that's a classic. Oh yeah, like it's funny because um I think it was it sleepless in Seattle. There was two two movies like that with Tom Hanks, but like um, I think it was Sleepless in Seattle where they do a lot of talking about the godfather and talking about that, yeah. The going to the mattresses and and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, the horse head uh scene was just um it was an actual horse head that they got from a processing plant. Really? Oh man, yeah. So they they so they didn't tell the actor either. They just like dressed it up in blood and so when he opened it up and seen this horse head, like he's really freaking out. Oh my goodness.

Dylan 46:23

So wow, that's crazy.

Joe 46:26

Yeah. Uh the uh the part where Sonny gets you know shot up at the toll booth.

Dylan 46:33

At the toll booth, yeah.

Joe 46:34

Uh there's um yeah, so the Warren Beatty version of Bonnie and Clyde at the end, they get shot up the same way, so they kind of paid homage to that.

Dylan 46:43

Oh, really?

Joe 46:44

Yeah, and I forget how many squibs uh James Conn had on him, but he said he was like bruised up for days. Oh man. Because those squibs just actually pop, and so they kind of hit your skin, and in the costume that he was in, it was a thin shirt, and they had to kind of hide it in. So you know, he's all the rounds that just go through him, it just you know, and I mean so much to the point that like they learned for the first time when they shot the godfather to make sure that he was dead, and so then they go up to him and you know, yeah, shoot him while he's on the ground, and it's right. So yeah, that's just a setup. It's just oh man.

Dylan 47:27

So the the squib, like is it just like a little capsule?

Joe 47:33

Yeah, it's like a capsule that pops on command kind of thing. But I I think I think they have gunpowder in them too to to make them actually go off. Right. So that's how you kind of make them pop. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. And so then, like, the I again I forget the number, but it was just like hundreds of squibs and it's just boom.

Dylan 47:55

Man, if we tell say too many more, we're gonna be through the whole movie. Or just halfway. The I really liked the opening office scene. Yeah. Um, I feel like it really shows um Corleone's like how you know how he pulls the strings for everything behind the scenes and stuff. And um I was I don't know, you took a lot of the ones that I was gonna bring up too. Oh, you can talk about them. Um you already did such a good job. Um, I liked the kind of the restaurant assassination scene. Uh-huh. Um when he's goes to the bathroom and is like up behind the the tank there. Yeah. Like he's like searching for it, and you're like, oh, is the gun not there? Yeah. Like that was my immediate reaction. And I was like, oh, the gun's not gonna be there, and then he's kind of gonna be in a bind. And yeah, but yeah, then he like pulls it out, and you're like, oh, yeah, yeah. And he doesn't do it, like he doesn't take him out right away, right? Like they, you know, had kind of planned on. So I was like, it, you know, it goes to show how he was having second thoughts about it, yeah, and kind of having to to process through it and make sure that's you know, yeah. Are you ready for this?

Ad Read Parody And Tradition

Joe 49:30

Yeah, it's like, you know, just knowing that he was in war, he was a you know, military guy, right? Like he could be around guns, no, no problem, but he hadn't practiced doing something like that. And so, like, you know, were you were you practiced shooting in a range, or you practice like, okay, if the enemy comes towards me, I'm gonna do this, that, and the other. Yeah. He hadn't really like processed in his mind, like, okay, and so the original the original plan was you're gonna go to the bathroom, you're gonna get the gun, you're gonna walk out, you're gonna shoot them, you're gonna look down, walk out, and drop the gun as on your side while you walk out. And this was like, um, sit down again, shoot, right, shoot in the throat, shoot in the head, and then completely turn around and look everybody in the eye.

Dylan 50:26

Right, square in the eye.

Prince Of Darkness: Lighting The Myth

Joe 50:27

Square in the eye, and then walk away. And just before he leaves, he goes with his hand in the air, like, it's me. Yeah. But even then, if they knew who he was, then they were like, We didn't see anything. Yeah, yeah. One of the cool things about that opening scene though was that the cat that was on set, the cat that's in his arms. Yeah. That looks like my cat. Um, next cosplay. Uh cat. Um uh yeah, it was just a cat that was a stray cat on set, and he picked him up, and the cat fell in love with him, and he loved animals and kids and stuff, and so he just kept the cat for the whole time and it stayed there, so it wasn't like a problem.

Dylan 51:24

Yeah, I mean, it definitely makes it look part of the family. Right. I think to kind of wrap it all up though, another I don't know if I would call it a favorite scene, but a good sc a good storytelling scene is when um Kay goes to Michael and is like you know, asking his business. Yeah. And he's like, I'm gonna, you know, I'm gonna answer you this one time.

Joe 52:01

Yeah.

Dylan 52:02

And then straight up lies to her face. Right. And she walks out of the office then.

Joe 52:10

Uh-huh.

Dylan 52:11

Um she walks out of the office and then turns around and looks back at Michael, and they're kind of all c congratulating him, if you will. Yeah. And then the door closes. That's I mean, that's just a good, yeah, a good storytelling moment there.

Joe 52:30

It's cool how the um he does this in another movie that I know, but we'll talk about it when we get to it. Okay. But the it's almost like it it ends where it begins. Yeah. You know, it starts in the office and then it ends in the office. You know. Right. With a new dawn, you know. Yep. D-O-N.

Dylan 52:58

So out of ten closed doors, what would you rate this movie?

Joe 53:04

Those are funny. Um closed doors. Um eight. Yeah. I think so. For me it is. Because it it's just the more you watch it, the more like i again, it's like reading a book and you you miss d certain details the first time, but then the second time it's like, oh, oh, oh yeah, yeah. You know, you start to know these characters more. And I I don't know that it's expected that you know it all the first time. And and I think that's why people go back to watching it again and again.

Dylan 53:43

Um because of the Yeah, all the little extra stuff that you can pick on. Yeah. Pick up on. Um I feel like it's a six for me. Yeah. And I feel like stuff is easily missed that really go along with the storytelling that's crucial to it. And so, like, you know, there was stuff happening towards the end, and I'm like, now who's this guy? Like, what you know, why is this happening? Yeah. Yeah. So But that's why you have me. Right. Yeah. Uh would you say that it lives up to the hype? Yeah. Lives up to the expectation. You know.

Period Detail And Production Design

Joe 54:35

Yeah. And I yeah, I uh you know, watching some of the documentaries of looking at actors and producers and directors who refer to the movie over, you know, all the things that they do in subtle ways, it's just you know, so iconic that, you know. When even if you do a horrible impression of Marlon Brando, you know you're trying to do the godfire. Right.

Dylan 55:06

Oh do you think that it that this movie still matters from a cinematography point of view? Oh yeah. Yeah, definitely. I mean, I guess you did kind of talk about through the whole of whole thing of how you know so many other shows and movies, you know, pulled pieces from it.

Joe 55:30

And I I think even from a like cinematic point of view, um from a photographer's perspective, um it there's that shot where going back to Enzo, where Michael is looking through the door, and that's such a great shot. Like just the the colors, the um kind of the lining of of kind of him poking his head out, things like that. There's there's a lot of like even in the garden where uh the dawn is is dying, you know, there's just these little things. Um color-wise, uh you know, there's just a sepia tone throughout the whole movie to give it that feel of like, you know, it's almost like you're looking at an old old picture the whole time, you know. Right. And and so it it just yeah, it just there's there's a lot of influence that it has. Yeah. And from from a movie that was you know filmed in the 70s, that was you know, not really looked all yeah, like you wouldn't have thought that the 70s was gonna be a point where film was gonna kind of bust out. Yeah and there was George Lucas and Francis For Coppola and and all that. And oh, I mentioned this, I forgot to say this, but um the mattress scene where they're old timey piano and they're showing the news clips and all that, yeah. That was a uncredited uh direct that scene was directed by George Lucas.

Dylan 57:13

Oh, okay.

Joe 57:14

Yeah, so Star Wars. But uh yeah, so things like that where you had the whole like group of guys that kind of made a lot of films that were successful, yeah. You know, right. So next week we're going back to John Hughes, and we're gonna spend some time in Saturday school with the Breakfast Club.

Dylan 57:40

Saturday school, huh? Yeah. Well, thanks for listening to Have You Seen the Movie Podcast. Make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast app, and if you're enjoying it, leave us a five-star rating. It really helps the show grow.

Joe 57:54

And we want to hear from you. Text us your name and a movie suggestion using the link in the description. You can follow our socials in the description as well. Everything you need is right there. We'll be back next week with another movie premiere.

Dylan 58:09

It's not personal, it's just podcasting.

Joe?! 58:12

It's not personal, it's podcast business.